In a fresh terror strike in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, two police personnel were killed while many others sustained injures when a powerful blast targeted their vehicle near a luxury hotel – where a top Chinese diplomat had narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack earlier this year – in provincial capital Quetta, officials said.

A banned Baloch insurgent group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack that left 21 people, including 12 cops, injured.

Balochistan, a southwestern province, has been wrecked by ethnic, sectarian, militant and separatist violence fed by a potpourri of groups.

According to provincial government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani, a police van was targeted by the terrorists who planted the explosive material in a motorcycle. The powerful blast shattered glass windows of nearby buildings.

While condemning the “heinous incident”, Shahwani said the terrorists want to dismantle the “peaceful atmosphere” in Balochistan However, he added, those involved will be taken to task.

The deceased police personnel were identified as Sepoy Niaz Ahmed and Ali Akbar.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned outfit, has claimed responsibility for the blast. The BLA has been resorting to violent attacks since 2004 to support its calls for self-determination for the Baloch people and separation of the province from Pakistan

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan, while condemning the incident, said the terrorists wanted to destroy the peace of the province. "We will never allow terrorists to succeed in their nefarious designs.”

Denouncing the incident, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the government must put in place measures to ensure the safety of lives and property of the people.

The latest attack comes more than three months after a powerful bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel, killing five people and wounding a dozen others. The Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong was also staying in the hotel but was out at the time of the attack.

A Chinese national, an engineer, was shot at and wounded in Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi late last month with a banned Balochistan militant group claiming responsibility for the armed attack that came two weeks after nine Chinese citizens working on a dam project were killed in a bus explosion in the northwestern part of the country.

On June 23, three people were killed and 24 others injured in a bomb blast near the residence of proscribed Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in the Johar Town area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

(SAM)